Pamela Varkony’s non-fiction topics range from politics to women's empowerment, from small town Americana to global perspectives. As a columnist for Tribune Publishing, Pamela's work has appeared in newspapers; magazine feature stories; and PBS and NPR on-air commentaries. Her poetry has been published in the New York Times.

Recognized by the Pennsylvania Women's Press Association for "Excellence in Journalism", and a much requested speaker, Pamela is also an advocate for women's rights and empowerment. She has worked on women’s issues around the world, including two fact-finding missions to Afghanistan.

Born and raised in rural Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Pamela often weaves the lessons learned on those back country roads throughout her stories. She is currently working on a women’s leadership book “Ten Rules for Ladies”.

Over the past ten years there has been a flowering of interest in very short forms of writing, from six words to seventy-five to four hundred and on up to a thousand. Today, in dozens of online journals you can find flash fiction, brief essays, and neo-vignettes. The tension of fitting a story, or memory, or character, or scene into a limited space asks you to leap in and get to essentials, and so, paradoxically, opens up creativity.

In this workshop, through examples and prompts we’ll explore the range of possibilities both for writing complete pieces in very short forms and using them to generate longer work. The presentation will include information about markets for short forms and some of the innovative approaches to submission they are using, and will be followed by a Q&A about submitting your creative work—of all lengths—to journals, contests, and anthologies.

Lynne Barrett is the author of the story collections Magpies (Gold Medal, Florida Book Awards), The Secret Names of Women, and The Land of Go, and edited Tigertail: Florida Flash. She has received the Edgar Award for best mystery story and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Her fiction can be found in Fort Lauderdale Magazine,Trouble in the Heartland: Stories Inspired by the Songs of Bruce Springsteen, Wraparound South, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, One Year to a Writing Life, and many other journals and anthologies. She teaches in the MFA program at Florida International University and is editor of The Florida Book Review. Learn more at www.LynneBarrett.com.

The Page Waits: From Personal to Public(ation)

with Judy Huge

It’s been written that “writing is like kissing; you can’t do it without a partner.” This workshop, for most any genre, explores how to build better bridges between your story and your reader. Specifically we will look at and practice techniques for choosing, structuring, and crafting stories that invite readers in, encourage them to stay, and lift your writing from the purely personal to the potentially publishable.

Judy Huge has spent over 30 years developing innovative approaches to both learning and writing. First, as founder and director of Goucher (College) Teachers’ Institute, a graduate program focused on the teaching of writing, then as president of her own national consulting firm, she has helped thousands use writing more effectively in managing their own work, lives, and transitions. While teaching college at both graduate and undergraduate levels, she wrote a monthly business column and frequent travel essays for Gannett newspapers. Currently IWWG Board president, she has been a workshop director at the Summer, Spring Big Apple, Smith, and California Dreaming Conferences. She is co-author of101 Ways You Can Help, A Guide for Grief, as well asA Middle AgedWoman and the Sea, a tale of loss and transition published in the anthologyWomen in the Wild.

- SCHEDULE FOR THE DAY -

9:00 a.m. Arrive Judy Huge’s home in an old part of Tampa, Florida for coffee, conversation, and, of course, orange juice